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late last year i wrote a column about the macintosh and its near brush with virus trouble. i received hundreds of e-mails telling me i was nuts (and worse). buried in that column, though, was a little aside about my admiration for apple's industrial design prowess. no other technology company's products have elicited as many "oohs" from meand countless others. i thought the first imac was adorable, and the second generation with its lcd panel was spectacular.

that said, i do not own a mac, and with much of my work focusing on the wintel and pc industry, there's little reason for me to do so. i have some envy though for those who do, especially when new apple products come out. most recently i found myself ogling the apple ipod mini. it's sexier than the originalsmaller and sleeker and it comes in a number of cotton candy colors. i know many people who own the original ipod, and they'd rather die than give it up. so while this smaller device has far less storage space (4gb compared with 20- or 40gb), i thought it might be worth giving it a try.

the first thing i noticed about the ipod mini is that it's almost small enough to hide in one hand. there are only two edges to the whole thing: the top and bottom. the rest is a seamless aluminum shell that wraps around the body. it weighs (3.6 ounces)about as much as an altoids-filled tinbut still manages to feel substantial. it easily slips into my pants or shirt pocket or i can use the nifty plastic clip to attach it to my belt (there's also an arm band accessory).

the beauty of this sultry product is only half the story. apple has managed to craft a near flawless combination of hardware and software; the software half, of course, being itunes 4.5.

itunes is, undoubtedly, the premier digital music application on the market today and, best of all, it's free. i do have my small nits with it, mostly because the player, apple's quicktime--like those from other media player companies (real and microsoft)--tries to take over all media content on your pc. this is an unfortunate by-product of the tooth-and-nail competition among companies. i just wish apple would take the high road--simply install itunes and play mp3s and other digital music file formats within itunes. if i double click on an mp3 file outside of itunes, i do not expect to be asked to change the default player for all media types. that's not helpful. just let me play the one file and move on.

i can live with this minor annoyance, because every other part of my ipod mini experience has been so splendid. let's break it down.

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About the Author

A 25-year industry veteran and award-winning journalist, Lance Ulanoff is the former Editor in Chief of PCMag.com.
Lance Ulanoff has covered technology since PCs were the size of suitcases, "on line" meant "waiting" and CPU speeds were measured in single-digit megahertz. He's traveled the globe to report on a vast array of consumer and business... See Full Bio

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